I always read my weekly dose of One Piece manga in MangaHelpers. Once I got to the main site, a short trimmed out article caught my attention. iPad says no to violence and adult situations in manga. Kodansha recently had 30% of their manga denied by Apple for the following reasons:

Violence
Anything with not only violence but blood (be it even a medical manga where a person is sick and spits up blood) was taken out. So what about Naruto? Gone… Bleach? Nah-uh … One Piece?! No way! Gone.

Adult Situations
This may be understandable. Hentai is definitely a no-no but on some occasions where the scene may have a little nipple slip or something, I am not sure if this has to apply. But, well, it is their platform after all so they decide what they want. They will only allow it once their iPad purchases stumble. Until then, these rules will stick.

When Kodansha was asked about why they were banned, they replied “Ask Apple”. When Apple Japan was asked how they’ll define “violence” and “Adult situations” they replied “We can’t comment”. They also refused to comment on why Japanese manga being sold in book stores around Japan was banned as well.

How “Adult situations” and “Violence” is to be handled outside of Japan still remains uncertain. But for Japan, it doesn’t look very bright.

Apple, having recently stated “If you want porn buy an Android” has really kicked it up a notch this time. By pretty much saying if you want to read any popular manga you will have to buy an Android. I guess this will work to Android’s advantage. There are so many Mangas and to think that if only Android will support them, then they will get all the market share for that.